Wednesday's the deadline for small businesses seeking $10K in relief from Seattle

Small businesses are hurting. The City of Seattle of trying to help. It’s offered them up to $10,000 each.

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, March 25.

UPDATE 3/25 6:55PM: Kelsey Nyland, a spokesperson in the mayor's office, said the Office of Economic Development has received over 7,000 applications. She said while today is the deadline for the first round, Seattle will offer additional application rounds. Money will come from the city's philanthropic partners. They're still working on the criteria for those rounds, and new applications should come out next week.

Nyland also said "the size of a business's financial loss does not determine whether or not they receive the stabilization grant. So a business does not need to update their application to reflect new financial impacts as they occur."

Paula Lucas runs Le Frock, a consignment store on Capitol Hill. Since social distancing went into effect, her business has dropped off a cliff.

She had hoped the city’s Small Business Stabilization Fund would help her survive the downturn. But it may be too late, if it comes at all.

“I’m feeling very hopeless," she said.

Lucas can count the sales she's had over the last week on one hand.

Since Lucas filled out the city's application for financial aid, further social distancing restrictions went into effect, increasing the scale of her need. But there are no posted instructions about updating pending applications.

"I can’t get a hold of anybody in the city. The month is running out and I don’t know if I have to get a hold of a lawyer and try to get out of my lease so I can close up shop, or if I need to declare bankruptcy, or if the city’s actually going to come through for us.”

City officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Seattle businesses that can document COVID-19 related losses can apply for Seattle's Small Business Stabilization Fund here.

To qualify, the business must have a physical location, five employees or less, and the business owner must earn a low to moderate income ($61,800 per year or less for a single adult household, more for larger families).